A group of friends from Perth visiting Mexico managed to escape alive after a gunman opened fire at a music festival on Monday, killing four people and injuring 12 others.
Trent Cray was with a group of nine friends from Perth the BPM Festival in Playa Del Carmen, a coastal town along the Yucatán Peninsula, when a man started shooting festival-goers.
Mr Cray posted on social media "OMG the whole club just got shot up!!!"
"We all had to get on floor and wait. The gunman ran around then everyone legged it. I filmed the whole thing. We all ok."
He said he and his friends had been among a group of people who had run for their lives.
Nathan Hannah, a friend of Trent and also a finance broker from Perth, said he had already left the party when he saw his friends running.
"[They] told me that a gunman had rocked up," he told WAtoday.
"I ran down the street trying to find the rest of the boys and there was a stampede of people everywhere.
Mr Hannah said his friend Jhana Green helped people who were gunned down by the shooter
"My friend helped a guy that was shot in the eye, I don't think he made it unfortunately.
"But there were three security guards shot dead at the front from when the gunman had entered.
In a conversation on social media Mr Green told concerned friends he put his singlet on a man's gunshot wound.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said "we are aware of reports of Australians in the area."
"If you have any concerns for the welfare of family and friends in the region, you should attempt to contact them directly."
Hundreds of people packed the Blue Parrot club in the resort town early on Monday morning, local time, when shots rang out. Footage on social media showed dozens of people fleeing from the club, some carrying injured friends as they ran down the street.
The BPM organisers said three members of their security team were killed in the shooting, which it said was perpetrated by a lone shooter. There was no official confirmation of the death toll, and a Quintana Roo state government spokesperson said there would be a press conference later on Monday.
"We are overcome with grief over this senseless act of violence and we are cooperating fully with local law enforcement and government officials as they continue their investigation," BPM said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
- with Georgina Mitchell, The Sydney Morning Herald
